Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the system, method and apparatus for displaying selectable ones of multiple television fields that are simultaneously accessible from an interleaved composite video signal, and more particularly to the techniques for interactive display of selectable television program materials that include the images of real people, objects and places or animated images, or combinations thereof.
Certain known forms of processing of television signals permit selective switching between one sequence of images, or `program`, and another sequence of images, or another program, for example, in connection with video games that display a composite real-image background and animated foreground. Selection of one program, or another program for such background displays is conventionally provided by separate tracks of limited length that are pre-recorded, for example, on a video disk. In systems of this type, the background video `program` may be selectively changed to suit the foreground image (which may be independently generated by computer) by switching between program tracks on the prerecorded video disk.
In other known television schemes, alternate program information may be transmitted on another, non-standard carrier signal, or may be time-shared on a standard carrier signal to constitute split-image display of information. Schemes of this type are described in the literature (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,681,383; 4,266,240; 4,287,528; 4,393,404; 4,467,356; 4,484,328; 4,510,520; and 4,593,318).
These known schemes are not readily conducive to real-time video displays of continuously selectable program materials of the type, for example, that may be transmitted over cable television networks. Nor may these known schemes be usable for transmitting multiple, real-time programs over a single television channel simultaneously for final selection, editing, and interaction therewith by the viewer.